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Seamus McCaffrey

The Phoenix, Arizona St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Fair Committee chose Seamus McCaffrey as this year’s Grand Marshal. Seamus was born in Belfast, on the Lower Falls in April of 1950. His father Peter owned the P.J. McCaffrey Construction Company, and his mother Ellen (“Nellie”) was a housewife. Seamus left Belfast during the Troubles in 1970 and headed for Glasgow where he lived for the next ten years.

Seamus immigrated to the United States in 1980 and moved to Phoenix in 1981. Seamus worked as a car salesman for three years to save up enough money to open The Dubliner, Arizona’s first authentic Irish pub. Seamus forever left his footprint on Arizona history by bringing Guinness and Harp into the state, despite the many objections from local alcohol distributors. In 1991, Seamus opened Seamus McCaffrey’s Irish Pub & Restaurant in downtown Phoenix. When Seamus opened up, the downtown area was like a ghost-town.  Seamus opened the award-winning pub, named after his wife Rose, on St. Patrick’s Day in 2002. Since its opening, Rosie McCaffrey’s Irish Pub is one of the places to be on St. Patrick’s Day in Phoenix.

Seamus still travels to to Ireland regularly and also attends games in Scotland featuring

his beloved Glasgow Celtic Football Club. Seamus co-founded the Bobby Murdoch Phoenix Celtic Supporters Club and all the games are shown live at Rosie McCaffrey’s. Seamus’s wife Rose is a lawyer who practices labor and employment law at the law firm of Sherman & Howard. Seamus has one 20 year-old daughter, Kathleen, who currently attends college in Arizona.

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